Iranian state television was briefly interrupted on Saturday evening by a hack targeting the regime’s Supreme Leader. As images of Ayatollah Khamenei appeared on the evening news screen, the newspaper was interrupted by an image of him surrounded by flames, a ballistic target on his face, alongside photos of four young women killed in the demonstrations for freedom which jostle the country.
The portrait of Mahsa Amini, 22, whose death sparked the movement, sits alongside the faces of Nika Shakarami, 16, Hadis Najafi, 20, and Sarina Esmaeilzadeh, 16, who have since been killed during the unrest .
The hacking, against the backdrop of the protests’ flagship slogan, “Woman, life, freedom”, was claimed by the group of hackers Edalate Ali, who at the same time on Twitter claimed responsibility for this gesture and asked everyone to share it. ” The spring is coming. We ask all our dear compatriots to share the pirated image with all their friends and acquaintances so that we can convey the good news of the overthrow of the regime to everyone and put their names on their tombstones,” the group calls out.
In August last year, Edalate Ali hacked into security cameras at Evin prison, infamously known as ‘the inhumane prison’, and exposed the mistreatment of political prisoners.
“Raïsi clears”
At the end of the day on Saturday, female students in Tehran chanted “get out” as President Ebrahim Raisi visited their university campus and condemned the demonstrators. Ebrahim Raisi addressed professors and students at Alzahra University in Tehran, reciting a poem likening the “rioters” to flies. “They imagine they can achieve their evil goals in universities,” he told state television cameras. “Our students and teachers are vigilant and will not allow the enemy to achieve its evil goals,” he said.
A video posted on Twitter shows students chanting “Raïssi get out” and “Mullahs get out” as the president visited their campus. Another video circulating on social media shows students chanting, “We don’t want a corrupt guest.” The government of the president, considered the natural heir of Ayatollah Khamenei, is entangled in several corruption scandals, while the difficulties of the population have continued to grow.
A state coroner’s report on Friday denied that Mahsa Amini died from blows to the head and limbs while in the custody of vice police and linked her death to pre-existing medical conditions. . The death of a young demonstrator was also attributed to suicide, and not to the violent repression of the demonstrations. These two pieces of news can only embolden the Iranians who have been demonstrating for four weeks, with a courage hailed throughout the world.